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Wiffle Ball Jar

Lionesses
Type

Food-Based Enrichment

Animals

Anteaters, tamanduas, echidnas, giraffe, okapi,

Food Extraction

Foraging

Behaviors

Oral Manipulation

Why We Like It

This is a really simple enrichment that ​can be made fairly quickly with a recycled plastic container. It encourages animals like giraffes to use their tongues to manipulate the wiffle balls to extract food, much like they'd use their tongues to separate leaves from branches in the wild.

Materials

  • Empty plastic container with a large opening and a screw-on top

  • 2 eye bolts (size doesn't really matter)

  • 2 Locking nuts and 2 locking washers to fit eye bolts

  • 2 double bolt snaps

  • Drill with a bit sized for the eye bolts

  • Hole saw with smaller diameter than the wiffle balls (hole saw should be appropriately sized to allow your animal's tongue to fit through the holes)

  • Wiffle balls

How to Make It

  1. Remove the lid and drill two holes towards the top of the plastic container

  2. Thread the eye bolts through and secure them with the locking washers and locking nuts

  3. Use the hole saw to drill various holes in the front of the plastic container. These holes should be large enough for your animal's tongue but small enough that the wiffle balls won't fall out. Smooth the holes.

  4. Attach the double bolt snaps to each eye bolt

  5. Fill with wiffle balls and food, and then screw the lid back on

  6. Attach the other ends of the double bolt snaps to enclosure caging or another secure structure and enjoy!

WildThink did not create and does not own any of the enrichment items shown on WildThink's enrichment database. Enrichment items are the property of their respective "sources", which can be found below the title of each enrichment item. WildThink is not responsible for any animal injuries or deaths that may occur whilst using enrichment found on WildThink's enrichment database. It is the responsibility of animal caretakers, managers, curators, and attending veterinarians to ensure that each enrichment item and the materials used to make the enrichment item are safe and suitable for an animal prior to use. WildThink is not liable for enrichment malfunctions.

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